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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

We've got a new dog. She came to us. It's weird... I'll try to explain...

The other day as I was heading off to work, I had to drive down our road to turn the car around in order to head in the right direction down the dirt road that leads from our house. I noticed a stray dog in the distance. I stopped the car and watched as it slowly approached. It was limping. It would take a few steps, then stop to rest. Sometimes it would sit down for a bit and then it would get back up and proceed, ever so slowly, down the dusty road. It walked with a purpose. I just sat in the car and watched, mesmerized.

I said out loud 'That dog is coming to us. It's coming to our house.' And sure enough, as it reached our gate it stopped and laid down. At the same moment Yusef opened the gate and walked over to the dog and bent over to look at it. He stood up and called out 'Take the side road.' - There are two roads leading to our house that run parallel to each other. I slowly drove down the side away from Yusef and the dog. I looked in the rear view mirror and by the time I reached the end of the road Yusef had brought the dog into the safety of our garden and closed the gate. I let out a sigh. We have a new dog.

Later Yusef called to ask me to bring home anti-biotic cream and eye ointment. The poor dog's paw was injured as well as one of it's eyes. She's a lovely little dog, not a puppy but still quite young, with smooth soft black fur and a cheerful disposition. She has taken up residence, sitting directly in front of the door to the house where she guards us as though she has been our dog all her life. We took her to the vet and he put her on anti-biotics and gave her a tetanus shot. Her eye is already clearing up but it will take a while for her paw to heal. Ibrahim named her Rita. I'm not sure where he found this name - but it suits her.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

I've had my nose to the grindstone all week. Out the door early in the morning as the sun is rising, home for a quick bite to eat and to change my clothes mid afternoon, out the door again, and then finally coming home at night.

All I've seen of the outdoors has been while driving the car. There really wasn't much to see. The weather was bad this week - sandstorms turned everything a dirty brown colour and made the air feel so thick you could bite off a piece and chew it. It made my eyes feel itchy, my throat feel scratchy and my chest feel wheezy. The weather seemed to be affecting everyone this week. I saw lots of fender benders on my way about town. A few of them resulted in drivers jumping out of their vehicles to have violent fistfights in the middle of the road. Of course traffic always comes to a halt while the hotheads sort out their situations. Entertainment!

One morning, at the beginning of the week, on my way through Fashloum, a neighbourhood of Tripoli, I drove past a burnt out car and lots of police men, all of them wielding billy clubs. Nothing was going on, whatever had happened was over with. Later I heard from various people that a drunken cop had killed someone... bad boys... bad boys... whatcha gonna do? LOL! Ugggh... Fashloum is just one step above a trailer park.. or maybe it's a step below. At the end of the week the burnt out car was still there. I expect it will be there for a long time because there are burnt out cars and wrecks lining the roads and countryside all over. No one seems to be bothered by them. I've decided to consider them art... sculpture!

The best thing that happened this week was my hairdresser calling to say she'd returned. She has been gone for three months.... three very, very long months! I went to visit her today and made an appointment to have 'the works'. By this time next week I will look human again!

Saturday, October 09, 2010

Nothing exciting has been happening in my life lately (thank God). I've been enjoying my weeks and savouring my weekends.

The kids are back to school, with the exception of Yusef. I'm looking for a tutor for him... Arabic is such a complicated language...sigh... imagine having to repeat the year because you failed one subject (Arabic) by two marks... one subject by two marks...sigh.. depressing. He's being allowed to retake just Arabic. I need to find someone who can pound Arabic into his hard head. I am soooo happy that it wasn't English that he failed - I can blame the Arabic on his father!

The weather is changing. Last week there were a couple of hot, muggy, humid days, but for the most part it's been lovely. I've been doing things in the garden and getting some fall cleaning done inside the house. I was out in the garden this morning... it's that time of year again - tortoise mating season - a very noisy business...clunk, clunk, clunk! The tortoises in our garden have been very busy!

The garden will look so much nicer when the house finally gets painted - by the way, we added a cockatiel to our menagerie recently. I read on the internet that they can be taught to speak so I shout out 'Paint the house!' every time I walk by it's cage in the hope that it will learn the phrase. I'm so tired of saying it to hubby. He mentioned this morning that he was thinking of painting the iron work either yellow or orange. I hope he was joking because if he does that I will definitely have a heart attack and then I won't have the strength to strangle him.

October.... my birthday is this month, but better than that is Halloween. I'm on the lookout for ORANGE pumpkins.... so far I can only find big dark green ones.

Friday, October 01, 2010

If you won a ticket to anyplace in Europe where would you go? Rome? Paris? Vienna? Someplace in Scandinavia? A popular tourist spot? Someplace romantic or someplace quiet? Would you go to a place rich in history and culture, or a place well known for parties and excitement? Maybe you would use the tickets to visit friends and family. Would you extend your finger and spin a globe, travelling to the place where the tip of your finger landed when the globe stopped spinning?

I saw this today while looking on the whatson.ly site to see what was happening in Tripoli. There's a chance to win a ticket to anyplace in Europe from Tripoli. And it's not just one chance, it's four! And there's also a chance to win a trip to New York. Oh Yeah!